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MaeLynn Joyner

Ms. Jizi

UWRT 1104

5 November 2017

Annotated Bibliography

Heil, Erin, and Andrea Nichols. Hot Spot Trafficking: a Theoretical Discussion of the Potential

Problems Associated with Targeted Policing and the Eradication of Sex Trafficking in the

United States. Contemporary Justice Review, vol. 17, no. 4, Feb. 2014, pp. 421433.,

doi:10.1080/10282580.2014.980966.

This article focuses on an idea within the realm of criminal justice known as crime

displacement wherein eradicating crime in one way will only force it to evolve, not necessarily

urge it to disappear. In relation to sex trafficking, the article focuses solely on the online theatre

where the regulation of ads on certain sites only increases traffic to other areas without those

regulations. The article aims to convince the reader that online trafficking ought to be allowed to

continue as it is considered a valuable tool in apprehending criminals while shutting down the

sites does nothing but make the activity harder to spot.

The article urged me to negate many of my initial reactions to methods of sex trafficking.

It seemed initially to merely defend the presence of sex trafficking on the internet which is

instinctually a difficult concept to justify but the authors made it clear that there are benefits to

remaining in control of where crime takes place by allowing it to take place in an open arena.
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This article was published by Taylor and Francis, a journal which over its history has

held great pride in publishing credible information. The content can be backed up through peer

review by the Contemporary Justice Review and is widely viewed as accurate across the criminal

justice community. Both authors work for respected universities, Southern Illinois and

Washington universities respectively. Heil is a professor in the department of Sociology and

Criminal Justice and holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice. She is often called for reference at

congressional summits according to her faculty page. Nichols is a professor in Women, Gender,

and Sexuality Studies and acts as coordinator of the Washington University Anti-Trafficking

Initiative with five books published on the subject.

Logan, T.k., et al. Understanding Human Trafficking in the United States. Trauma, Violence,

& Abuse, vol. 10, no. 1, Jan. 2009, pp. 330., doi:10.1177/1524838008327262.

This article focuses very broadly on the issue of human trafficking but serves as

indication that human trafficking and sex trafficking, which are often confused as being

synonymous, coincide more often than not. The source describes the case of two women brought

to work as slaves in the United States who were subject to abuse of all kinds and how their story

is a model of many others. They are used to discuss conditions, susceptibility, and profitability of

victims.

This article helped me focus my research. While it provided good information regarding

both human and sex trafficking, I decided to focus solely on the issue of sex trafficking in the

United States as human trafficking often holds very different implications. The information

provided related back to several of the questions I was seeking to answer, these questions
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including who is most susceptible to sex trafficking, what conditions they face, and why they

remain in those conditions.

The three collaborators of the article hold different but pertinent credentials. Logan is a

professor at the University of Kentucky in the department of Behavioral Science. According to

her staff page, her research and outreach focus on domestic violence but she has been

collaborating with the Modern Womens Foundation for over three years as a trafficking

researcher. Walker is also a professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Kentucky but

holds degrees in Social Work and Psychiatry. He has written and published two books on

violence victimization and is the principal investigator of the Kentucky Substance Abuse

Treatment Outcome Study. Hunt heads the Office of Victims Advocacy for the Kentucky

Attorney Generals office. She has been actively a part of the fight against sex trafficking for

over 15 years according to the website of the Kentucky Attorney General.

In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States: Hearing

before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law of the Committee on the

Judiciary United States Senate, Senate, 111th Cong. (2010)

This congressional hearing serves to highlight the issue of child sex exploitation in the

United States and focuses specifically on how to rescue children from a cycle of violence and

how to manage them following their extraction. Testimony is given by the heads of various

congressional partners, all of which head organization aimed at getting children off of the street.

The hearing goes into detail about why children remain with their pimps and traffickers and how

to dissolve that relationship.

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One statistic in this hearing reminded me of why this subject has me very passionate

about helping victims of sex trafficking: across these 50 States, there are only 70 beds designated

for victims of sex trafficking in very few institutions. This brought me to a part of my research

that other sources have not, this being the necessity to delegate funding to the plight of ending

sex trafficking. Without funding there is no mission. I am curious as to how obtaining funding

can be achieved, whether it would come from federal/state budgets or if it would be a matter of

community support. On top of the issue of funding the hearing also added to what I have

gathered from other sources regarding susceptibility and how to break the cycle of abuse.

The hearing was held by the 111th congress of the United States which holds sole

authority over federal legislation. This gives it the ultimate authority to preside over a case so

deeply ingrained in the United States and holds credibility as a first hand source. The individuals

called to testify are indisputably capable of speaking on the subject as they are the heads of

organizations dedicated to helping youth victimized by the commercial sex market. Among these

heads were Anita Alvarez, States Attorney in Cook County, Illinois which is a hub for sex

trafficking. Joining Alvarez was Beth Phillips, head of the Computer Crimes and Child

Exploitation unit of Kansas City, Missouri. Most notably, the hearing included testimony from

Luis CdeBaca whose most relevant experience is as director of the State Department Office to

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Backpage.coms Knowing Facilitation of Online Sex Trafficking: Hearing Before the

Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law of the Committee on the Judiciary United

States Senate, Senate, 115th Cong. (2017)

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This congressional hearing details the extent of Backpages congressional contempt as

they have refused to aid congressional investigations into the pervasiveness of sex trafficking in

the United States. Chairman Portman details a system that backpage employs wherein sensitive

words that allude to child exploitation are automatically removed and the contents posted after

sanitization, an action which aids and abets pimps and sex traffickers. The hearing also offers

testimony from parents of victims of underage commercial sex and asks them for their

experiences and relationships to Backpage.

This was an extremely frustrating source for me to interact with as the executives of

Backpage continued their contempt by refusing to offer testimony and invoking their fifth

amendment rights at every opportunity. Through this source I came to understand the extent to

which classified websites like Backpage facilitate criminal activity and how difficult they can be

to confront. I also learned how prevalent Backpage is in commercial sex trading as they boast a

73% rate of involvement in all online sex trafficking.

The hearing was held by the 115th congress of the United States which holds sole

authority over federal legislation. This gives it the ultimate authority to preside over a case so

deeply ingrained in the United States and holds credibility as a first hand source. The executives

called to testify are indisputably capable of speaking on the subject as they are the heads of

Backpage itself. The parents called to testify hold credit as they are directly connected to the

victims of the crimes and speak first hand of their experiences.

Chermayeff, Maro, director. Sex Trafficking in the USA. PBS Independent Lens, 2015,

www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/episode-one-sex-trafficking-in-the-usa/.
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This documentary follows various celebrities as they visit areas both foreign and

domestic which are affected heavily by sex trafficking. Interviews are included with women out

of the industry who recount their struggles with assault, addiction, and the job itself and those

involved in the project also speak to traffickers and victims alike who are still in the industry.

The documentary serves to highlight the struggles of working in the sex market as well as

featuring paths that individuals can take to escape the lifestyle.

I was not shocked by the information this source provided but my heart did ache for the

women it displayed. The true gravity of what it is like to be a sex worker, willingly or

unwillingly, is something that I along with others do not give much thought to. Much more goes

into why someone works in sex trade than just a need for cash, oftentimes women are abused and

manipulated into staying or believing that they chose to stay. This documentary provided insight

into the lives of victims of sex trafficking rather than offering a third person diagnosis and

analysis like many other sources do. It made the research more personal and made it feel real

whereas other sources have made it feel like a threat which only exists in a realm aside from my

own.

PBS is a broadcasting station far from the eye of controversy. They have released a

variety of documentaries, two of which have received the prestigious Peabody Award for

investigative journalism. The documentary itself includes interviews with experts on the matter

of sex trafficking, one of these experts being Audrey Morrissey who founded the organization

My Life My Choice. This organization aims to empower and aid women who want to or have

escaped commercial sex and has been excelling in its field since 2002. Sheriff Tom Dart is also a

part of the documentary and holds notoriety in all he has done to reform Cook County in Illinois.
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Along with writing the states Sexually Violent Predators Commitment Act, Dart has

spearheaded a movement across Illinois by informing women apprehended for prostitution of

opportunities to rehabilitate in what is known as the Sheriffs Womens Justice Program. Dart

also founded his departments Child Exploitation Unit and has helped to build many more across

the country, all according to his profile for the Cook County sheriffs department.